Dominate, Negotiated & Oppositional Reading/ Halls Theory

Halls Theory

Stuart Hall had a theory of encoding and decoding. His theory suggests that T.V programmes and other media have messages within it. The message can be interpreted in three different ways. This all depends on who's viewing the media displayed. Each and every person will have different interpretations of the media displayed. This depends on that specific persons cultural background, economic standing and personal experiences

Hall states that there is three ways of decoding. One is the dominate reading this is what the creator of the media displayed intends. The other is the negotiated reading which is a middle group. This argues for and against the media displayed. The last on is the oppositional reading. This is an alternative reading that goes against the creators intentions.

Dominate Reading - The dominate reading of this specific picture is a negative reading. The fact that these two subjects are wearing their hoods up indicates that they could be causing trouble. Furthermore, by having their hoods up they're hiding their identity. This could convey that they're already in some sort of criminal activities. The hood can also represent that these two subjects are teenagers. As teenagers are most commonly known to be wearing their hoods up. Furthermore, the fact that they're are wearing all black attire could perhaps mean they're of bad characters. As black conveys darkness, evil, danger etc.

Negotiated Reading - The negotiated reading of this picture could be of that these two subjects are just walking home from going out with their mate. The hoods up can indicated that they probably felt cold or it rained during their journey back home. However, the other reading of this could perhaps be that more teens are involved with violence on the streets.

Oppositional Reading - The oppositional reading of this picture could be that two friends are walking home from playing football in the park with their mates. The fact that they're wearing their hoods up could just be because they either feel cold or it was raining previously. Furthermore, the fact that both of them are wearing similar clothing backs up that they could of been at the park playing football.